Disappointment in Monroe’s hospitality after car towed

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To the Editor,

I am a fan of jazz music and specifically jazz guitar. Recently, I learned that my favorite smooth jazz guitarist was going to be playing at the River Jazz Festival in Monroe on Saturday August 11.

I was thrilled and invited a friend to come with me. When we got to the festival, there were no parking spaces available in the areas marked “festival parking” with the exception of the 20 spots blocked by orange cones for some reason.

We looked elsewhere but all of the city street parking was 2 hour only and I knew we would be longer than that. We pulled into the Big Boy restaurant where there was a sign stating “Festival Parking $5,” but there was nobody taking money anywhere, so we pulled out back and found a spot out of the way.

After enjoying the festival for about 4 hours, we returned to find that my truck had been towed! I went inside to inquire and was told by the manager that one of the kids working the parking lot said he had spoken to me and that I said that I was going to a pet store and would be right back. I let her know that this conversation never happened. Nobody was there and nobody had said a word to us, especially about being towed. She said there were “signs” and then said “well they took down the others but there is one and showed me one that was obscured by a parked car when I had parked.

After contacting (a towing company) and waiting 20 minutes for them to call me back with a price I was told that it would be $533 to get my truck back that night! Floored by the outrageous amount, I told her I would have to make some calls and see what I could arrange. I went back into Big Boy to see if the manager or an employee could give me a ride to the impound yard and was told to leave or she would call the police!

I left of course and walked across the street where two police cars were stopped and told them about the situation. They told me there was nothing they could do and had nobody to give me a ride. They gave me the number of a cab company. After calling the impound yard back I was treated harshly and with disrespect for asking questions to clarify the details of the situation.

My wife called and talked to them and they told her that it would be $433 if we picked it up on Monday.

After asking many friends including people on the sheriff’s department, it was a unanimous opinion that the price charged by the impound yard was ridiculously high. When my wife went to pick up the truck, she was treated disrespectfully as well.

Though the music was excellent, the lack of hospitality was a great disappointment. I am positive that in my own community (Tecumseh) nothing of this nature would ever occur.